Florida Democrats just found their new rallying cry – and it comes straight from the party that got destroyed over DEI in 2024.
Now a former Republican congressman is running for governor on a promise to resurrect the agenda that sank them.
David Jolly vowed to use executive action to revive DEI programs across Florida – and dared Republicans to take him to court over it.
Jolly's Plan to Circumvent Florida Law
Jolly didn't hide what he was doing.
He said he'd issue executive guidance telling state agencies they have a "safe harbor" from Florida's DEI ban – as long as a program has a "socioeconomic justification."
That's not a legal argument.
That's wordplay designed to give bureaucrats cover to keep funding programs the Legislature already banned.
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DeSantis signed the law. Florida's Board of Governors voted to enforce it. Universities across the state shut down their DEI offices.
Jolly's response? "Make them sue us."
That's not leadership.
That's a candidate promising to spend Florida taxpayer money on legal battles to fund programs Floridians already rejected through their elected Legislature.
He also pledged to suspend Florida's 287(g) agreements – the arrangements that let sheriffs and local police refer immigration cases to federal agents, a cornerstone of the state's cooperation with ICE.
Byron Donalds has $90 million raised and a seven-point lead in the latest Mason-Dixon poll.
Jolly has a plan to bring back DEI and shield illegal immigrants from deportation.
What Jolly Is Actually Running On
In one town hall, Jolly told Florida voters exactly who he is.
He'd bring DEI back into every state agency and university.
He'd cut off Florida sheriffs from ICE – so the next time federal agents show up to remove someone here illegally, Florida cops stand down.
He'd expand Medicaid, stand up a new government-run primary care system, ban data centers by executive fiat, and redraw Florida's congressional maps to claw back seats Democrats lost fair and square.
That's not a moderate pitch to win back suburban independents.
That's the full radical leftist agenda, recited from memory, three weeks before Election Day.
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Here's the part that should embarrass every Democrat in Florida: Jolly was a Republican congressman from Pinellas County not long ago.
He sat in the same caucus as the people he's now calling dangerous.
He took the same votes.
He attended the same fundraisers.
Now he stands in front of college students and says the people who stayed behind "know better" but chose wrong.
He knows DEI cost Democrats the election in 2024.
He said it out loud Monday – that his party "may have been on the wrong side of the argument in the last two or four years politically."
He admitted the whole thing blew up in their faces.
Then he asked Florida to let him try it again.
Florida Already Answered This Question
Trump's executive orders ended DEI across the federal government on day one.
The Fourth Circuit let those orders stand while legal challenges work through the courts.
Republican-led states have now doubled their anti-DEI actions every year since 2023 – two dozen state laws and gubernatorial orders banning these programs.
Florida was first.
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DeSantis said it plainly: DEI stands for "discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination."
Jolly told the FAMU crowd the exact opposite – that DEI is "a reflection of meritocracy."
Those are two completely different states.
Voters get to choose which one they live in on November 3.
Donalds is Trump's guy.
He raised $90 million, leads across most of the state, and would become Florida's first black governor by running on merit – not the ideology Jolly is trying to resurrect.
Sources:
- A.G. Gancarski, "David Jolly tells FAMU crowd he'd revive DEI and dare the Legislature to sue," Florida Politics, October 13, 2026.
- Alaijah Cross, "David Jolly speaks to FAMU students at candidate townhall," WFSU, October 13, 2026.
- NBC6/Telemundo Station Group, "Donalds leads Jolly in 2026 Florida governor's race, new poll finds," Mason-Dixon Polling, October 2026.
- Ryan Smith, "ICYMI: New UNF Poll Shows Byron Donalds Leading David Jolly in General Election Matchup," Byron Donalds for Governor, July 2026.
- "DeSantis Signs Bill Ending DEI Programs in Higher Education," The Daily Signal, May 2023.
